Centuries after the last humans left Earth, the Exodus Fleet is a living relic, a place many are from but few outsiders have seen. Humanity has finally been accepted into the galactic community, but while this has opened doors for many, those who have not yet left for alien cities fear that their carefully cultivated way of life is under threat.

Tessa chose to stay home when her brother Ashby left for the stars, but has to question that decision when her position in the Fleet is threatened.

Kip, a reluctant young apprentice, itches for change but doesn’t know where to find it.

Sawyer, a lost and lonely newcomer, is just looking for a place to belong.

When a disaster rocks this already fragile community, those Exodans who still call the Fleet their home can no longer avoid the inescapable question:

What is the purpose of a ship that has reached its destination?

My Review:

I’m going to be upfront about this book with you. I did not love it as much as I did the first two in the series. This is even my second attempt at getting through it. I checked it out in paper first and carried it around for six weeks before returning it. Saw it was going to be available as an audiobook and decided to give it another shot. Even then, I started it and almost didn’t finish it before it expired off my phone.

I’m not sure what the problem was but I found myself having trouble following along to the plot. I struggled to place characters from one chapter to the next and I know I missed a whole chunk in the middle. By the end, I think I was paying better attention but it was a struggle. I wanted to enjoy it so much but if I’m totally honest if I had not read the first two books I would have DNF this one. If the author writes more in this series I will read them but I’m not going to rush out there and pick one up release week.

Other than that I didn’t hate the book it just failed to capture my enthusiasm that the other two did. I liked several of the characters and I found the situation interesting if not the plot. There is one character in the book that broke my heart but I’m not going to say more to avoid spoiling anything.

This book was simply less of an adventure and more of a case study in this civilization’s life. I did enjoy the alien character that was there on a cultural exchange but didn’t feel like the author used that plot thread to its full potential and couldn’t even tell you what happened to the character by the end of the book. The book simply left me wanting more. Wanting to love it when I didn’t. I’m glad I made it through but won’t be reading this one again.

The unhappy inhabitants of planet Krikkit are sick of looking at the night sky above their heads–so they plan to destroy it. The universe, that is. Now only five individuals stand between the killer robots of Krikkit and their goal of total annihilation.

They are Arthur Dent, a mild-mannered space and time traveler who tries to learn how to fly by throwing himself at the ground and missing; Ford Prefect, his best friend, who decides to go insane to see if he likes it; Slartibartfast, the indomitable vice president of the Campaign for Real Time, who travels in a ship powered by irrational behavior; Zaphod Beeblebrox, the two-headed, three-armed ex-president of the galazy; and Trillian, the sexy space cadet who is torn between a persistent Thunder God and a very depressed Beeblebrox.

How will it all end? Will it end? Only this stalwart crew knows as they try to avert “universal” Armageddon and save life as we know it–and don’t know it!

My Review:

I have to confess I listened to this book twice. Not because it was so great but because when I sat down to write the review I realized that I had not paid attention for most of the book and didn’t know anything that happened. So, I was going to town the next day and decided to go shopping and decided to start the book over again. It is only five hours long and shopping took up three or four of those so it wasn’t a great hardship. I liked enough of what I could remember to want to go back and see what I missed.

I did manage to pay a bit better attention for most of the book in the second listening but that final hour and a half I still lost interest. I’m not going to try a third time. I did like the book and have enjoyed the series for the most part. Got to love quirky British humor. I think the main problem for me was this story was simply a bit disjointed for me. Too much all over the place and didn’t hold enough continuity. It wrapped up nicely and brought everything around in a full circle but everything in between left me a little lost.

For much of the book, the group was separated from one another and pairs of them were off doing their own thing. I needed the chemistry of the whole gang together for it to work for me.

I did enjoy the social commentary and observations that I noticed and that is what is going to keep me coming back for the next book. I’ve also taken a shining to Arthur Dent. He is such the reluctant hero who just wants a cup of tea and to be left alone while continuously being dragged into this crazy plot. Loads of fun when I can focus. Perhaps this is a book that would have worked better for me in print. I would have missed out on some great narration, however as the reader does an excellent job of portraying these characters.

Source: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for an honest review.

Book Synopsis:

She believed in the mission with all her heart.But that was sixty million years ago.

How do you stage a mutiny when you’re only awake one day in a million? How do you conspire when your tiny handful of potential allies changes with each shift? How do you engage an enemy that never sleeps, that sees through your eyes and hears through your ears and relentlessly, honestly, only wants what best for you?

Sunday Ahzmundin is about to find out.

My Review:

I just did not get this book and struggled through most of it. I kept wondering what was going on and so much simply didn’t make sense to me. The last 30 pages I ended up just skimming so I most likely missed some answers to the questions I have but by the end I simply lost interest. The only reason I finished the story was because it was so short.

My biggest issue was I never truly understood what the crew was doing out there in space. It had something to do with gates, but gates to where? How did they work? Why were they being built? Oh wait I think that was explained. Then there is the fact that they end up ‘sleeping’ for centuries at a time and mention that humanity might not even exist on Earth anymore. So what is the point of building the gates? This plot point struck me as unnecessary. I think the author wanted to use it as a way to make the story interesting, but I think it would have been fine had the crew simply slept for a few years at a time. After all we never go back to Earth or interact with any other race so there is no new technology or civilization for the crew to readjust to.

I did like Sunday and her interactions with chimp and the other crew members. The whole mutiny plot was interesting but overshadowed by the questions I had, some mentioned above.

I wanted to like this more than I did. I’m usually able to suspend reality while reading but this story simply brought up too many questions regarding plot and setting for me to overlook. I’m glad I tried it and might be willing to try another title by this author.

Source: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for an honest review.

Book Synopsis:

In her childhood, Rose Franklin accidentally discovered a giant metal hand buried beneath the ground outside Deadwood, South Dakota. As an adult, Dr. Rose Franklin led the team that uncovered the rest of the body parts which together form Themis: a powerful robot of mysterious alien origin. She, along with linguist Vincent, pilot Kara, and the unnamed Interviewer, protected the Earth from geopolitical conflict and alien invasion alike. Now, after nearly ten years on another world, Rose returns to find her old alliances forfeit and the planet in shambles. And she must pick up the pieces of the Earth Defense Corps as her own friends turn against each other.

My Review:

I am so glad I gave this series a second chance. The first time I attempted book one in this trilogy the way the story is told threw me for a loop. Each chapter is a government document or letter or some other sort of file. There is no or very little setting description and dialog is not formatted the way most fiction books are. It was just too difficult to adjust to and I gave up. Then I got into audiobooks and decided to give this book another try. Listening to the story with different narrators for each character made it so much easier for me to follow along.

Then I saw this book available at Net Galley and hesitated. I really wanted to know how it ended but wasn’t sure I could get into the print version… Perhaps I should just wait until the audiobook comes out. Well, my curiosity won out and I put in a request. This time while I was reading I could hear the voice of the actors and way the story was formatted wasn’t as big a hurdle for me to overcome. Still strange but I quickly adapted.

This was an awesome ending to a highly interesting and innovative trilogy. There is so much I loved about this book that I’m not sure where to start. There is so much social commentary on the current state of our society and I loved every comparison or parallel the author drew. Xenophobia, fear, hate, over-reaching governments all of it was touched on in this book. The author portrayed us pretty accurately and it might be enough to make you frustrated but by the end, after a few moments where I teared up I have a feeling of hope for our future. The author doesn’t solve our problems for us in this book but he did give me perspective. I’m not going to share more because I don’t want to spoil it for you.

This was a probably my favorite book in the trilogy. Something that doesn’t often happen as I usually enjoy the first book far more than the others. This series though ended strong and I’m glad I read them. I hope you give this series a chance because it is one that I think people should read if we are ever going to evolve as a society. Sometimes it takes an author to hold a mirror up to us show us who we truly are as a society. And if they are really good they will deliver a great story along with it.

Source: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Book Synopsis:

John Scalzi returns with Head On, the standalone follow-up to the New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed Lock In. Chilling near-future SF with the thrills of a gritty cop procedural, Head On brings Scalzi’s trademark snappy dialogue and technological speculation to the future world of sports.

Hilketa is a frenetic and violent pastime where players attack each other with swords and hammers. The main goal of the game: obtain your opponent’s head and carry it through the goalposts. With flesh and bone bodies, a sport like this would be impossible. But all the players are “threeps,” robot-like bodies controlled by people with Haden’s Syndrome, so anything goes. No one gets hurt, but the brutality is real and the crowds love it.

Until a star athlete drops dead on the playing field.

Is it an accident or murder? FBI Agents and Haden-related crime investigators, Chris Shane and Leslie Vann, are called in to uncover the truth―and in doing so travel to the darker side of the fast-growing sport of Hilketa, where fortunes are made or lost, and where players and owners do whatever it takes to win, on and off the field.

My Review:

Took me a bit longer to get into this one than the first book in this series. The part focusing on the game Hilketa just bogged me down and made me struggle to focus on the book. I’m not a sports fan, any sports apparently, as this is a made-up game in a made-up universe. The parts focusing on the politics and business, or rather the corruption, of the sport, were a bit more interesting for me.

My favorite parts, however, were the scenes with Shane and Vann as the banter between these two is pure gold. I also enjoyed Shane’s time with his flatmates and the parts about the cat never failed to crack me up. It has been a while since I read the first but it felt like we spent more time with Shane’s parents and it was nice to explore the dynamics of their family.

Another part I found fascinating was the exploration of the virtual world, I forget its name, that the hadens create for themselves and use to interact with each other. Parts of that reminded me of Ready Player One.

Like I said I struggled a bit more with this book but after reading the acknowledgments it appears like Scalzi did too. I’ve long believed that often comes out in the writing. The last third of the book worked the best for me and I often found myself laughing out loud as I read well past my bedtime to finish the book. I so hope that Scalzi writes another book in the series as it is such an interesting world to explore.

A debt of honor: One brave woman ventures alone into a parallel universe to save her old shipmates, exiled there decades earlier by a mysterious device called the Transfer Key. She soon learns the alternate universe harbors not just an alien invasion force, but a secret that underpins its very existence.

A mission of peace: A long-awaited Klingon-Federation peace conference convenes, led by Ambassador Sarek of Vulcan and Councillor Gorkon of Qo’noS. But both sides have enemies who would prefer the two great powers remain at war—and who will do anything to make certain hate wins the day.

An errand of justice: Captain Kirk and his crew seek the stolen Transfer Key that opens a door between universes, but their hunt is cut short by Ambassador Sarek’s plea for help. The Enterprise crew soon becomes targets in a deadly crossfire—one whose outcome will decide the fate of two universes.

My Review:

I feel like I missed out a bit on the first third of the book as my reading time kept getting interrupted. Stopping and starting an audiobook isn’t the same as a physical book, although keep continuity can be challenging in print as well. Rather than restart the book I decided to keep plugging along and eventually I was able to get into the story.

The first part is fairly fuzzy the second half is what really stood out for me. Much of that takes place at the peace talks between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Sarek has a pretty big role in this book and I find myself wanting to know more about Spock’s father. Perhaps the next Star Trek book I need to read is his. Perhaps my favorite moments in this book were McCoy’s as we got to see him interact with his daughter who was a nursing student on the planet where the talks were being held. McCoy’s personality truly shines in this book and his scenes were a hoot.

Overall I enjoyed the book and look forward to seeing how this trilogy wraps up in the last book.

An epic new trilogy begins—a tie-in for the milestone fiftieth anniversary of Star Trek: The Original Series—that stretches from the earliest voyages of the Starship Enterprise to Captain Kirk’s historic five-year-mission…and from one universe to another!

Hidden aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise is a secret that has been passed from captain to captain, from Robert April to Christopher Pike to James T. Kirk. Now the return of the enigmatic woman once known as Number One has brought that secret to light, and Kirk and his crew must risk everything to finish a mission that began with April so many years ago…

Nearly two decades earlier, April and his crew first visited the planet Usilde, where they found both tragedy and a thorny moral dilemma. Today, the legacy of that fateful occasion will compel Kirk to embark on a risky voyage back to that forbidden world—which is now deep in territory claimed by the Klingon Empire!

My Review:

I spotted this trilogy available through my library’s overdrive account and decided to add it to my wish list. Last week I noticed that the first two books were available for borrow and decided the time was right to check them out.

Now I’ve read Star Trek books before but this was my first time listening to them and I have to say that the narrator did an excellent job of bringing the characters to life. He didn’t sound exactly like Kirk, Spock, Bones, and the rest of the crew but he most definitely got the inclination of their voices down. The author also did a great job of capturing the essence of the characters and franchise as well.

If you are not a huge Trekkie I’m not sure this will interest you much, but I don’t think you will be lost. It takes place on the original timeline on Kirk’s Enterprise around the time of Star Trek: Undiscovered Country as tensions with the Klingons are high. A good chunk of the book is also told in flashback to a time before even Christopher Pike captained the Enterprise.

The plot felt much like the original series dealing with the first contact with a xenophobic race on a planet on the edge of Klingon space. The action was good, the morality lessons timely, and the dialog witty. I enjoyed the book but then again I’m a lifelong Trekkie and I brought much to the story.

In less than a year, Kelsea Glynn has grown from an awkward teenager into a powerful monarch and a visionary leader.

And as she has come into her own as the Queen of the Tearling, she has transformed her realm. But in her quest to end corruption and restore justice, she has made many enemies – chief among them the evil and feared Red Queen, who ordered the armies of Mortmesne to march against the Tear and crush them.

To protect her people from such a devastating invasion, Kelsea did the unthinkable – naming the Mace, the trusted head of her personal guards, Regent in her place, she surrendered herself and her magical sapphires to her enemy. But the Mace will not rest until he and his men rescue their sovereign from her prison in Mortmesne.

So, the endgame has begun and the fate of Queen Kelsea – and the Tearling itself – will be revealed…

My Review:

Wow, that was quite the ending! It was well worth the wait for my turn to find out what happened. If you’ve been frustrated with so many of the looming questions left unanswered in the first two books I am pleased to report that most if not all of them were answered in the final book in this trilogy. Like others have mentioned the ending was a bit abrupt but it didn’t really disappoint or frustrate me I guess. Oh sure, I want to know more about Kelsea’s life afterward but I’m fine filling in my own details of what I imagine life has in store for her.

This book worked so well for me that it almost lifts up my opinion of earlier books. Now that I KNOW what all happened it all makes so much more sense. This story has so much to offer that I almost want to listen to it all over again to truly grasp the morality lessons it delivered. Like the story, itself states works of fiction teach us empathy and hold up a mirror to our society and allow us to take a good hard look at ourselves.

The themes that I particularly enjoyed in this trilogy are the examples of extremism and fanaticism. Also of what happens when the church takes over a society. I almost wish that the author hadn’t solved these problems with magic but it is what it is. Then there is the whole plot of a utopian society gone wrong that was a pure delight to explore. The story shows us why you simply can’t run away from problems for they will simply follow you. Change is a long and hard road with no easy answers to complex issues and can not be had without great sacrifice.

There were a few surprises near the end and a couple of things I would have done differently but overall I was so satisfied when I finished this story that I can’t even fault the story over them. The last book ended up being my favorite which doesn’t often happen in trilogies. Sorry that the trilogy is finished but happy that I took the time for it.

Source: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Book Synopsis:

Ten years after the Aliens left Earth, humanity has succeeded in building a ship, Friendship, in which to follow them home to Kindred. Aboard are a crew of scientists, diplomats, and a squad of Rangers to protect them. But when the Friendship arrives, they find nothing they expected. No interplanetary culture, no industrial base–and no cure for the spore disease.

A timeslip in the apparently instantaneous travel between worlds has occurred and far more than ten years have passed.

Once again scientists find themselves in a race against time to save humanity and their kind from a deadly virus while a clock of a different sort runs down on a military solution no less deadly to all. Amid devastation and plague come stories of heroism and sacrifice and of genetic destiny and free choice, with its implicit promise of conscious change.

My Review:

When I was given the opportunity to read and review the upcoming release from the Yesterday’s Kin Trilogy I jumped all over it. I loved the first book! I appreciate the complex characters, moral dilemmas, and real science (as far as my liberal arts educated mind can tell) that Ms. Kress uses to weave her story. So I cleared my reading calendar and sat down to see what happen next in If Tomorrow Comes.

If you are or have picked up this book without reading the first in the trilogy I think that you will be alright. I still encourage you to go back and read that first book but I think you will still appreciate this story. It could almost work as a stand-alone title if it wasn’t for the freaking cliffhanger at the end.

I have to confess that while I enjoyed this book I loved it a bit less than the first. Still dealing with great topics but the book got a little bogged down in the middle. I managed to zip through the first hundred pages but after a short break to finish another book (due back at my library) I struggled with the second half a bit. Of course, that could be attributed to interrupted reading time. Every time the story started getting good again I had to set it down.

What I loved about this book; the chance to explore a human society that developed vastly different from humans on earth. Almost an opportunity to see how we could have been without many of the societal hangups we have here on Earth. Of course, being the humans we are we still manage to muck up this other world with our influence. I did appreciate how Kress didn’t make this other human race a utopian society. It had its own share of issues but compared to the current state of our society it sure fell like a vast improvement.

I think what hurt this story the most for me was a character for me to truly connect with. There were several I definitely didn’t care for but there wasn’t really anyone I really rooting for. Perhaps humanity as a whole, but it wasn’t quite enough. The end of the book managed to wrap things up nicely and if I had ended the story a chapter or two early I could have walked away satisfied and ready to move on. But I didn’t and that last chapter reached out an grabbed me and now I anxiously away the next book to see how this trilogy ends. I need to know what happens next and I think you will too!

Source: I received a copy of this book from the publisher through Blogging for Books

Book Synopsis:

In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade’s devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world’s digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator’s obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade’s going to survive, he’ll have to win—and confront the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.

My Review:

Confession time. I had already read this book when I requested it or rather I had listened to it. I borrowed the audiobook from my library a while back but had wanted to read it again before seeing the movie. I loved listening to it the first time as it is narrated by Wil Wheaton who quite frankly made the book truly come alive for me. I had been toying with adding the title to my home library and when I saw the movie tie-in version come up for review I went for it and put in a request.

I’m happy to report that reading the book was just as delightful as listening to it. It really does surprise me that this book works for me when I struggle so much with his second title Armada. This book, however, is such a fun trip down nostalgia lane for anyone that grew up in the 80’s. I can’t wait to see it on the big screen!

Much of what I said in my first review carries over to this one as my opinion and observations haven’t changed in this rereading. If you would like to know what I said in that review you can do so at this link. If you are excited about seeing the movie please do pick up the book first. After all the book is always better!